Both optimists and pessimists
contribute to our society.
The optimist invents the airplane
and
the pessimist the parachute.

Gil Stern

Today's
Meditation:

Gil is
simply telling us that we all have our contributions to
make to society and to our fellow human beings and their
lives--and each of us is going to be able to contribute on
our own terms, in our own ways. And just because we
don't see the world in the same ways, we don't have to
feel that the other is necessarily wrong. In fact,
there are so many different ways of seeing anything that
it really is difficult to say that others are wrong when
they don't agree with us.

Personally, I have a hard time being around extremely
pessimistic people, for their attitude often brings me
down and makes me feel pretty lousy--but that's only when
I let it do so. If I accept these people's
perspectives for what they are, then I can accept what
they say and how they say it without getting it into my
mind that they're wrong. Because if all of us looked
only at the positive sides of life, after all, who would
have invented airbags or life vests or any of the many
devices that help to protect us when things go wrong?

True pessimism can be harmful, both to the person who is
pessimistic and to those who share their worlds with
them. Looking at the world and seeing only
impossibility and bad things can be very detrimental, and
can also keep people from reaching any of their
potential. But I don't think that's the type of
person Gil's talking about here--after all, the profoundly
pessimistic person never would invent anything, because he
or she would be able to see only the possibility of
failure, so what would be the use?

I don't see myself as either an optimist or a
pessimist. My main goal is to see things as they are
and accept that, without the value judgments. And I
know that so many things happen without us foreseeing them
that it really makes little sense to try to predict what
the future will hold. But I am glad that many people
think of possible problems in different situations and
create ways that can keep me safe when I need them.

Questions to
consider:

Why do we so often want to "fix" the way that
pessimistic people tend to see the world? Have
others tried to "fix" the ways that you see
things?

Think of some things that would be different if we all saw
the world in the same ways. What contributions would
be lost?

Why is it important to accept the ways that other people
deal with reality as they know it?

For further
thought:

In the long run the pessimist may be proved
right,
but the optimist has a better time on the trip.

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